Highway to Heaven
Highway to Heaven was a Syndication network drama series created by and starring Michael Landon in the lead role. The show aired from September 19, 1984 to August 4, 1989, lasting for five seasons and 111 episodes. Plot The series centered on Jonathan Smith, an angel who has been stripped of his wings and placed on probation where he wanders Earth helping people with the assistance of retired police officer Mark Gordon. Cast *Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith *Victor French as Mark Gordon Broadcast History\Ratings Cancellation In June of 1988, in the midst of the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike, NBC decided that season five would be the last season for "Highway to Heaven" since it was falling in the ratings. The show's fifth-season premiere aired in the fall; after that one episode, the series was removed from NBC's regular broadcast schedule entirely. A two-hour special aired on December 7th, but "Highway To Heaven" was not at that point reinstated as a regular series, even though 10 further episodes had been filmed. On March 10, 1989, Michael Landon made an appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and explained the series' cancellation. One further "Highway To Heaven" episode was broadcast on March 21, 1989, but the series was not scheduled on a regular basis again. Finally, the nine remaining season 5 episodes were aired in a Friday timeslot in the summer of 1989 beginning June 2nd. The series finale (which was a Christmas-themed episode) aired on August 4th. The finale did not resolve any ongoing character situations, leaving the possibility of further episodes. However, even if the series had performed well enough to warrant renewal, Victor French developed lung cancer in March 1989, shortly after he had completed filming the fifth season; he died that June. The cancellation of "Highway to Heaven" also marked the end of Michael Landon's thirty-year relationship with NBC, in which he co-starred on "Bonanza" and "Little House on the Prairie" (the latter of which, much like with "Highway to Heaven", he also served as an executive producer and director for the majority of episodes). Landon's last public appearance was on Syndication, as a guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" less than two months before he died in July of 1991. Although it was initially a big success, and very important to a struggling Syndication, by 1988, falling ratings led to the decision to cancel the series after the upcoming fifth season. Suspecting that if he shot a full twenty-four episode season, many would end up on the shelf unbroadcast, Michael Landon made a truncated fifth season of just thirteen episodes. Landon's suspicions were proven correct when Syndication refused to give the series a regular timeslot, and instead announced it would be used only as a last-minute replacement show to fill gaps in the schedule. As a result, the series was broadcast sporadically over twelve months, with the final episode (clearly originally intended for Christmas 1988) not shown until August of 1989. Landon's anger at Syndication's treatment of the show led directly to the ending of his 30-year relationship with the broadcaster. Category:1980s television series Category:1984 Category:1985 Category:1986 Category:1987 Category:1988 Category:1989 Category:Syndication